Land and Book
Literature and Land Tenure in Anglo-Saxon England
1st Edition
Published on 15. January 2013
304 pages
978-1-4426-6444-9 (ISBN)
Description
In this original and innovative study, Scott T. Smith traces the intersections between land tenure and literature in Anglo-Saxon England. Smith aptly demonstrates that as land became property through the operations of writing, it came to assume a complex range of conceptual values that Anglo-Saxons could use to engage a number of vital cultural concerns beyond just the legal and practical - such as political dominion, salvation, sanctity, status, and social and spiritual obligations.
Land and Book places a variety of texts - including charters, dispute records, heroic poetry, homilies, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - in a dynamic conversation with the procedures and documents of land tenure, showing how its social practice led to innovation across written genres in both Latin and Old English. Through this, Smith provides an interdisciplinary synthesis of literary, legal, and historical interests.
Land and Book places a variety of texts - including charters, dispute records, heroic poetry, homilies, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - in a dynamic conversation with the procedures and documents of land tenure, showing how its social practice led to innovation across written genres in both Latin and Old English. Through this, Smith provides an interdisciplinary synthesis of literary, legal, and historical interests.
Reviews / Votes
'This is a stimulating study that will send its readers back to the primary sources with new questions and a sharper awareness.' - Alice Jorgensen (Review of English Studies vol 65:269:2014) 'This book is a valuable addition to our understanding of how land and property were conceptualized in Anglo-Saxon England, and it will undoubtedly remain so for years to come.' - Lindy Brady (Modern Philology vol 112:01:2014) 'The book is particularly valuable for the strong case that it makes for the value of literary analyses of texts rarely read for their beauty and usually reserved for historical discussion.'- Jennifer Neville (Modern Language Review vol 110: July 2015)
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Toronto
Canada
Target group
College/higher education
Edition type
Digital original
File size
0,96 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-4426-6444-9 (9781442664449)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
10/2012
University of Toronto Press
€86.00
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
Scott T. Smith is an assistant professor in the Department of English at Pennsylvania State University.
